Dan Kelly

It was early morning when I spoke to a "Tad sleepy" Dan Kelly from his home in "Sunny North Richmond" where he, along with The Alpha Males, had been rehearsing in preparation for their national tour which was due to kick off in Geelong that evening in support of 'Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth', the follow-up to the well-received 2004 debut 'Dan Kelly And The Alpha Males Sing The Tabloid Blues'.

After recently completing a couple of laps of the country, supporting both Augie March and Clare Bowditch, Kelly is keen to headline the band's own shows.

"It's a different thing, that's what we're really looking forward to."

Dan (yes, he, the nephew of Paul), along with The Alpha Males, comprised of Aaron Cupples (guitar), Dan Luscombe (keys), Lewis Boyes (bass) and Christian Strybosch (drums), are also seemingly enthused with the idea that everyone is about to get to hear the new record.

"It's exciting to just have a new piece of work and to not have to think about it, it's there now, which is really good and, again, the last live shows we did for the 'Tabloid Blues' were heaps better ones, people sort of 'got' the record, what it was about, it makes the live shows a lot more enjoyable."

With the new record a largely self-produced affair, I wondered whether it was a conscious decision to go for the expansive, layered sound the record has.

"The funny thing is we went out to make a really clean tone, minimal record because that would be a lot easier to play live and the next thing you know, we've ended up with this opus, multi-tracked explosion. It didn't exactly go to plan that way, but on the next record we'll go for a minimalist, clean tone and see what happens then, I keep telling myself that," he chuckles.

"On this record we probably used the studio a bit more. Aaron, who played guitar, recorded a good chunk of the record and mixed it, so the band was certainly in the studio a lot more than on the first record. I'd say they had a lot more parts on this record, the first one was a lot more simpler, I did it with Magoo and once we'd originally tracked it, then all the overdubs I pretty much did with myself and Gareth (Liddiard, from The Drones) who played bass and Magoo. Everyone was involved over the different phases," Kelly informs me.

"I wanted to make a record that sounded sort of greener, as opposed to the last one which sounds sort of orange to me," Kelly reflects.

When asked about the kinds of records that were on rotation in the Kelly household whilst writing this record he mentions The Kinks, Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead, Stephen Malkmus and even some Cuban bossanova, but explains that many of the songs changed once the band got their mitts on them.

"I think the confidence of the band and the playing is probably a bit more intent on this record because we're a much more solid unit. On both the records, I'd come in with songs and then play them to the band and we'd work them out in the rehearsal room, then they'd suggest stuff and I'd go back and tinker with it, bring it back. We'd muck around with it, play it live," he explains.

As a lot of the songs on this record appear to be thematically linked, I ask Kelly whether he considers this to be a concept record.

"At the start, I think I almost went for that idea, it was almost going to be kind of a musical, but that changed when I listened to the lyrics after I'd finished the record and sat down and had a think about what that was all about. There certainly seemed to be a lot of recurrent themes in all of the tunes," he explains.

"The classic concept record always has the opening song at the end as well, a slightly more psychedelic version which wraps it all up, maybe I should have done that."

I leave Kelly to ponder the idea of the concept record, "The whole thing about doing a progressive, tropical, indie-Motown kind of record can sort of put people off, but it seems to reflect what's going on in my brain and that's the best you can do, I think."

Simon Foster

'Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth' is out now through Shock.